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Elite: Dangerous - Gamescom 2016 (day 3)

20. August 2016.

Just recently, I had a discussion with several Elite players about the need of some quality of life patches since Frontier has been pushing semi-bugged features to the game… but it seems they’ve been a few steps ahead of me.

The stream today didn’t reveal anything major like the two streams before but there are things that have been sought for a long while that will be available as of patch 2.2.

Some really cool quality of life improvements will be patched in and will include new interiors to the docks, new hangar design, CQC assets / environments around the galaxy, new architectures for stations and docks, capital ship dockyards with more possible assets coming in future patches.

What has been mentioned is the fact that these CQC stations will be a part of these new locations and won’t act like regular outposts or docks. They will have NPCs flying around that might be wanted so patch 2.2 will actually enable us to fight around stations like the launch video showed. Also, this will spark up other player-driven activities like PvP events or racing.

Some new improvements are coming to the system map as well. Landable planets will be shown as actual planets and not just a wireframe mockup. This will enable players to scout for specific landmarks and structures with more visual precision.

Starport services GUI has also been revamped to fit the new features and to show the state of the system/station in a more convenient way. Agent portraits have also been improved and they look a bit less like biowaste addicts now.

Some more eyecandy upgrades will be visible on the neutron stars and white dwarves. Since the difference between the magnetic pole and the rotational pole causes huge energized plumes and cones of matter to be expelled into space, Frontier applied new effects to these stars.

Hitting the mentioned cones will damage the FSD drive, overcharging it in the process. This will enable for a single boosted jump.

But all these new improvements can’t stand up to ship transfer and module storage! It’s been a real pain juggling all your modified modules between ships, and Frontier actually confirmed these to be a working part of the Guardians patch.

Players will be able to transfer their ships instantly from any station to another for a fee. The price of the transfer will depend on the distance and ship price. Modules will be stored for free, but their transfer will also be calculated in the above mentioned way.

And with all the new love for the various ships given, there were some new paintjobs introduced. Some vibrant skins will be available for ship launched fighters as well as new wireframe paintjobs for the Anaconda, Asp Explorer, FDL, Viper Mk3 and the Python. Also, new kits are coming for the Vulture and the Python.

You can find the daily video roundup below.

3 comments

Ronny 21. August, 2016. at 12:38h

Skipp 20. August, 2016. at 22:24h

@Roger Wilco Jr. - That's actually a great idea. At the moment, we have ship damage only in the instance where the ship actually took damage. Once in SC, it's gone. I'm pretty sure Frontier will extend it to a permanent state at some point. Coming to a station that denies access based on looks would be awesome :D

Roger Wilco Jr. 20. August, 2016. at 16:19h

For a little "quality of life" and "eye candy", I'd really like to see persistent ship wear & tear and damage. And if you are too ratty looking (no offense to the Fuel Rats), maybe have a 1st class station deny you access, or have some missions or passengers refuse to work with you, while other less savory characters may be willing to pay extra.